Previous Event
March 25, 2007
"Media Monopolies"
by Beth FratkinBeth Fratkin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Communication Department at the University of Utah. Her research is focused media ownership regulations and how these laws have been applied since the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. She currently teaches Mass Communication Law, and Current Developments in Telecommunications, at the University of Utah. She also has a background in public radio.
Beth talked about how average citizens, together with public interest media reform organizations; can influence policy decisions by participating in the rule-making process. In 2004, the Third District Court in Philadelphia ordered the FCC to reconsider its 2003 order that would have relaxed media ownership rules and allowed furthered consolidation across media. These same rules are again under consideration and the FCC is currently accepting comments from interested parties.Books:
Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media, by Eric Klinenberg (2007). NY: Metropolitan Books, ISBN 13:978-0-8050-7819-0. This is an excellent and very accessible book that argues that media ownership does matter. Klinenberg provides many examples of why media consolidation affects our lives, both locally and nationally.
Digital Destiny: New Media and the Future of Democracy, by Jeff Chester (2007) NY: The New Press, ISBN 13: 978-1-56584-795-8. The author is the Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy and he in favor of legislation that will preserve the openness and the diversity of the Internet.
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communications Politics in the 21st Century, by Robert McChesney (2004) NY: Monthly Review Press ISBN 1-58367-105-6. The author is a scholar and activist who passionately believes that mass media should be employed to promote a participatory democracy.
- Arthur Goldschmidt. A Concise History of the Middle East
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